Automatic tobacco feeding cigarette machine



Nov. 24, 1953 RA'ULT 7 2,660,177

AUTOMATIC TOBACCO FEEDING CIGARETTE MACHINE Filed Feb. 20, 1952 5 Sheets-Sheet l in J 7- ullf n a,

Mar-v1 e75.

Nov. 24, 1953 M. RAULT AUTOMATIC TOBACCO FEEDING CIGARETTE MACHINE Filed Feb. 20, 1952 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Nov. 24, 1953 M. RAULT AUTOMATIC TOBACCO FEEDING CIGARETTE MACHINE 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Feb. 20, 1952 Thy a i e MiG/,5, Qw/ V Nov. 24, 1953 M. R AULT 2,660,177

AUTOMATIC TOBACCO FEEDING CIGARETTE MACHINE .F'iled Feb. 20, 1952 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 B s i fi m Nov. 24, 1953 M, RAULT 2,660,177

AUTOMATIC TOBACCO FEEDING CIGARETTE MACHINE Filed Feb. 20, 1952 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Patented Nov. 24, 1953 2,660,177 ICE AUTOMATIC TOBACCO FEEDING CIGARETTE MACHINE Michel Rault, Sceaux, France, assignor to Societe Anonyme Usines Decoufle, Paris, France Application February 20,1952, Serial No. 272,551

Claims priority, application France February 17, 1948 Claims. (Cl. 131-66) The invention relates to an improved distributor arrangement for the continuous and automatic feed of tobacco in a continuous-roll cigarette-making machine said machine comprising special carding drums adapted to supply tobacco from a supply of tobacco present in a suitable container.

The tobacco is supplied from the distributor in the form of a shower of loose staples which is distributed as uniformly as possible so that it falls upon a belt conveyer adapted to bring it to a tobacco roll forming device and thence to a cigarette forming device.

In spite of the arrangements devised in previous machines to improve the taking of the tobacco by the carding drums and to subsequently compensate for the lack of uniformity of such a taking the layer of tobacco fibers or slivers present on the belt conveyor is far from being uniform. The layer of tobacco-fibers, in cross section, exhibits pits and knolls, nodes and antinodes, which when taken by the devices forming the tobacco roll and the shaped cigarette finally leads to the production of cigarettes which individually vary considerably in weight, in compactness and in the amount filled, thus causing a particularly unpleasant result to the smoker of the finished cigarette.

This lack of uniformity ascribable to the unsatisfactory loading at the carding drum'and also to the greater or lesser density of the to bacco staple shower falling upon the conveyor is further aggravated by the disadvantage of the considerable variations in the weights of the cigarettes produced due to the unsteady output of the distributor and because of the heterogeneous character and the physical condition of the tobacco fiber supply.

The resulting cigarette obtained from conventional machines in which the tobacco stream conveyed on the belt and fed as such to the processing members is convertedinto a compacted roll and exhibits the above-indicated defects which heretofore had to be accepted by the smoker in the absence of an improved device to remedy these defects.

The'present invention aims at removing these defects to the fullest extent possible.

The principle of the invention is based upon a new distributor construction which is set to deliver an excess of tobacco over that which is necessary to obtain cigarettes of the desired mean weight and which thereafter removes the knoll from the tobacco layer, at a suitably chosen place, the tobacco stream being held down by gravity and other particles of tobacco only to provide a uniform tobacco layer in cross section that will necessarily forma properly filled and uniformly packed cigarette in the cigarette forming device. The surplus tobacco thus removed isreturned to the tobacco supply feeding the distributor to obtain substantial economies in the utilization of the tobacco.

The apparatus of the invention thus comprises a roll former constituted by a channel member, a conveying belt which is movable over said channel member, guards which are secured to the upper edges ofopposite sides of said channel member and which have downwardly projecting flanges, these downwardly projecting flanges overlapping the sides of the belt rotatable supports which are mounted on opposite sides of the channel member and rotatable cutters fixed to the supports for rotation therewith and presenting overlapping cutting edges directly above the longitudinal axis of the channel member so that each cutting member is in slidable contacting relation with the corresponding face of a guard member, a laterally deflecting guide member which is positioned between the rotatable supporting members and is substantially on contact with one of these rotatable supporting members and with the upper surfaces of the cutting members and is in lateral spaced relationship to the other supporting member, said latter supporting member having teeth which project from the side surface thereof to facilitate the transfer of excess tobacco above the channel away from the location of said channel. This transfer of the excess tobacco permits the delivery of the excess to the start of the feed and since the return of the excess tobacco is delivered along the channel and along the bottom of the conveyor, the undulated sections of tobacco which have been removed are returned to therod in such-fashion as to maintain the dimensional uniformity of the tobacco in the rod former and so that the uniformity is maintained in the continuous operation. As indicated above, the tobacco stream is held down in the absence of any vertical pressure so that the particles of tobacco in the stream are held down by gravity and by other particles of tobacco only. For delivering the excess tobacco to the start of the feed, as mentioned above, a doctor blade may be located above the channel member and in advance of the cutter.

An object of the invention is the combination of a rod former comprising a channel member, a conveying belt movable therein, guards secured to the upper edges of opposite sides of the chan-, nel member flanges overlapping the sides of the belt, rotatable cutters moving on rotatable supports on opposite sides of the channel member having overlapping cutting edges directly above the longitudinal axis of the channel member, each cuttinginember in slidable contacting relation with the corresponding face of the guard member, a deflecting guide member between the rotatable supporting member in contact. with one of the supporting memhaving downwardly projecting supporting member to transfer theeggcess 119, v

bacco above the channel away from h of the channel.

L A further object of the .inventionis directeds to a tobacco filler distributor for continuous rdllii" cigarette making machines incombinationwith a rod former comprising a chafinelfnefiibe'f aha-1o a conveyor belt provided with adius'tablelat'eralk: plates disposed on either side thereof, said lateral? plates adjusting the width of the conveyo r in the channel and of the tobacco stream carriedon the" nverging flexible conveyor belt 'ialalt't' the lateral plates and adjustable reducing the width of the 6onv'e'yorbelt an the tobaceo *stream and raising the height of n above-the" predetermined height 'co'rf t th 'tobaecsstre maensi y, top amount? and tobaco: stream cross" secf volume oinpletely suffi'cientfor thesiipply of he cigarette making device; S anna-meter e 1 'with dividing cylinders o a curat ly e; Qv he xce s. e p ifi fi 'n 'e i pdtb r v e a s e h top i iee ft the strategies; ef er iie me ing e:

vice.

further object of theinventionis directed to the combination of. alcon'veyor belt provided i t rl l at aw efi vide a we e si v y ria'rro wer llshaped channel for the carry;

i of aitobacco stream injsaid 'conveyor belt; W} a dividi'ng and separatingdevic'e to 'accuf me s c ri ede ired sever rationf between the-surplus tobacco an'df the ref; m; rider, or "it ar eset" iorth ri'nj accordan'ce v with; th scriptionbelow. emb fi eh iw wbe es begwlii df b i h r asona ly ccu e mtr. tion that thederi'sity of the tobacco depo s ed on" the belt conveyor remains constant; t e-L that the weiht'oftobac'co which is' thus depos'itedin loose v although more or less;- interlocked staplesis con staht/for a given volume. Thisembod'iment .of'the invention aims at securing a tobacco stream of constant volume, and" the'followingprocedure is ado'ptedi 1; settingithedistributor to deliver a tobacco" streamthat contains more. ltobacco than is nee essary toxobtain cigarettes of the desired -m'ean'i weight and consequently the cross-sectional I area otmrhichwi'lI-be. larger than :th' "one" corresponding to the desired mean weight; determining such a surplus so that even in those regions of the tobacco stream in which pits are present due todaclg otnmiformity in the supply, the section oi ltl ieisiversfiall be at least equal to the sectionboriesponding to the desired mean weight.

2.: a'definiteipoint in the travel of the tobacco strearnfremoving the tobacco present in eggcess over the section above indicated.

"3I"S T'1p'plyi1fgaffdforming the cigarette with thatitobaccostream only, which just fills the said section and returning the remainder to the bulk ot tobacco in the distributor.

FFth formation of the cigarette, a flow of tobacco or constant density is thus obtained w ll i cl'iiiSl free from fioiis'as well as from pits, as long asa'sulficientexcess tobacco is delivered by' stributor. *rnesurrace unevenness'es d the; tobacco stream is'thus' removed at the same time as the said excess; tobacco isseparated from th'str'eam'. The accurate adjustment of the quantityof tob "'o in thefstreain fcarried along by the conveyor beltaf ter theex'cess tobacco has been removed therefrom is conducted in that zonewhere the st r aim has "th'ehig'h'est vertical dimension and; the sm'alles't transverse dimension.

Since a fairly open channel is utilized beneath the" distributor ifi fili'def to: obtain a; uniform filling oit'o bac'co i'n the'channeL it is necessary to convert afwid'e'iandishallow stream of tobacco M n and'relatively high stream without mQ iYm' t 'sity."

Experience "has indicated that by gradually contracting thefsidewall's of the tobacco-stream containing channe'l according to the invention; tobaccof 'i's pressed'withoutfrising to an t e jeiztentyand gives a result which" is tb f the desiredaction; On the con- "th transversedimension of the lower p, oi the; charmer is suddenly reduced With oftheupp r portion; experi en'e al s'oi' showsithat the tobacco arrivin Past pointfof' contraction is lifted and then :flows infth iipper; portion of the channel without being compressed.

adjustment which may be fixed forfa particular rodsi z'e thefmurorm r; Theseplates are so arranged itofproduee (an abrupt j reduction in ofithelowefipertion of the stre a'in of totransierred y'the belt. Micrometric upp v ear rk rov d d'f red- 'u h el flieeefieit ee t esee a me A debtor blade 'loeated above the channellmernber and in advance of the cutter: is prvidedl for separat'ing the ijcess t'cgb a cco from' the stream. thus Wa er-99 owe r n strate byiway ofjexa'rnpleflone, I p in'v nftion; In; thedrlaw'ingsz. is u a s tional; View, illustrating the. e i t in h m v mmnm b c o pp1y means and inte'rengagingi spiked wheel feeders to the distributor;iconvyor'and' dividing means of theinvelitiofif Fi'gT'2 -isa plan view of the apparatus of the ml iq .7 l H "Fige;-3 6"are cross-sectional views at agreater scale according to the lines II- II to' V- V of Fig: 2-respect1ve1y;*"

Fig. 7 is a longitudinal sectional view at the same scale as Fig. 2, along the line VI--VI of the preceding figures.

Figs. 8 and 9 are respectively a plan-view and a sectional view of a device for carrying away any excess tobacco.

. I In Figurel, the conventional delivery arrangement is illustrated, wherein the tobacco feeding reservoir 25, containing the loose tobacco staple .21, the fibres of which are cut to size, is moved along conveyor belt 24 to engage the interengag- .ing feeding spiked wheels 22 and 23 which are adapted to distribute a uniformly spread shower 1 of tobacco onto the conveyor belt I.

After the tobacco stream has been vertically l dividedin accordance with the invention, the exce'ss tobacco falling at the end of the conveyor belt fis collected on a bucket conveyor l'i driven and moveably guided by wheels 18 and it to returnthe tobacco excess through an adjustable return distributor 20, provided with an adjustable picker wheel which distributes the tobacco fibres ,returned to the tobacco supply in substantially the same state of subdivision as the tobacco supply from feeding wheels 22 and 23.

The tobacco stream from the distributor is carried along by the conveyor belt I slidably driven on the channel 2 through its edge portions 3 guided and held by the flanged edges i of plates 5. Then the lower portion of theconveyor belt engages the rounded edges 6 of lateral plates 7 parallel with each other and with the medial axis 'fof the belt. The upper portion of the conveyor belt is subsequently gradually narrowed by reducing the gap between the upper plates 8 the edges 9 of which retain a given slope as will be seen in Figs. 4-6. The upper plates 5 are slidably mounted over the lower lateral plates 1 as shown in Fig. 6; the wedge formed between the 1 upper plates controls the gradual convergence of the upper part of the flexible conveyor belt I and the slidably adjustable lower plates 1, adjustable by a thumb wheel and screw threads permits the narrowing or widening the lower trough of the conveyor belt. The same figures and Figures 8 and 9 illustrate how the rotary cutters 10 are adapted to remove the excess tobacco according to the plane of cutting indicated in chain dotted lines.

The rotarycutters it! are equipped with needle projections or spikes which are 0.2 or 0.3 mm.

thick, this being preferable to a greater thickness such as 1 mm. for example. These cutters have a diameter of 103 mm. and the distance between their centers is 102 mm; they overlap accordingly, in the cutting area, by a distance of 1 mm.:

cause the excess tobacco to be removed. This tobacco is thus circulated in the space I 4 comprisedbetween the cylinder I2 and the stationary piece [5. On leaving this space, the tobacco is separated from the cylinder [2 the doctor blade ,located above the channel member and in advance of the cutter directs the tobacco away from the channel and the tobacco falls upon a paddleconveyor H. The cleaner l6 prevents residual bits of tobacco from remaining caught on the spikes I3.

The paddle conveyor I'I carries up the excess tobacco back to the distributor as shown in Figures 1 and 9.

The cross-sectional area of the channel underlying the distributor may be substantially semicircular with a radius of 14.5 mm. This area amounts to about 330 sq. mm.

The tobacco filler for a 70-mm. cigarette weighing about 1,200 milligrams, occupies cross sectional area ranging from about 285 to about 315 sq. mm. according to the density of the tobacco fed from the distributor. The average area is about 300 sq. mm.

Therefore, with about 300 sq. mm. of tobacco the semi-circular area will not be filled completely and the level of the top of the tobacco stream will be substantially about 13.5 mm. above th bottom of the conveyor belt channel.

Of course, the position of the tobacco stream in relation to the bottom of the conveyor belt is not an absolute certainty; the tobacco stream is somewhat stirred in the vertical direction and may sometimes leave a gap of one millimeter above the belt surface. As a consequence, the position of the cutting or levelling plane afforded by the rotary cutters may vary by one millimeter in relation to the bottom of the tobacco stream. A one millimeter variation in a 13.5 mm. high tobacco stream represents about 8% of variation.

Thus, with this height, variations would occur in the weight of the separate cigarettes such as to destroy part of the advantages resulting from the cutting step, Therefore, it is of advantage to adjust the level of the cutting plane at more than 13.5 mm. above the bottom surface of the belt. A value of 20.5 mm. gives excellent results. With a tobacco stream 20.5 mm. high, a onemillimeter variation thus represents only 5% variation in the finished cigarette, a tolerance heretofore unobtainable.

This 20.5 mm. height could be obtained as well by resorting to a narrower channel beneath the distributor. A 300 sq. mm. cross-sectional area requires a 15-mm. wide channel approximately. In this case the difficulty lies in regularly filling the cross-section ofiered to the incoming stream of tobacco. Due to the narrowness of the channel offered to the tobacco the latter will not properly line the channel, and inner cavities or soft portions will be formed therein so that the section situated beneath the plane of cutting will have an irregular density which results in finished cigarettes having an irregular density.

To compensate for the irregularity, a uniform and complete filling of tobacco is provided in the narrow channel. A 'wide open channel is maintained beneath the distributor in order to avoid interfering with the fall of tobacco thereon and to have a regular tobacco filler forming a stream with the highest possible uniformity density.

The thickness of the lateral plates acting on either side of the conveyor belt is less than that of the tobacco stream, that is about 8 or 9 mm. The lateral plates act through their upstream ends by abruptly reducing the width of the channel in the lower portion thereof.

The rise in height of the tobacco stream resulting from this narrowing of the channel offered thereto, occurs without compressing or altering the evennessof density provided that on the one hand the tobacco stream is acted upon just as it is delivered beneath the distributor hopper, that is, employing a low-density, uncompressed tobacco stream, and that on the other hand an 

